Tag Archives: hello fresh

Boston Marathon Runner’s Passport arrived on Friday. I finished my longest training run. Highest mileage week is in the books. I’ll be hanging out in pigeon pose for the next three weeks. ⇓Selfie I sent Marta and Ellen.

This morning Ellen, Amelie, and I ran 22 miles through Venice, Brentwood, Palisades, and Santa Monica. 1000+ feet of climbing. Worth it for this view.

When we were powering up our last hill we ran into Marta. Thank you for entertaining us for the final 4 miles. I was definitely ready to call it a day by that point. My legs were tired going into this run after running two tough workouts this week and lots of easy mileage. Wednesday I ran my Yasso 800s. The plan was to run the 800s at about 3 minutes, but I did the workout on the treadmill and running at a 10.0 on the treadmill made me feel like I was going to fly off, so I stuck to more like a 9.8. I felt great throughout the workout, so didn’t really worry about running the repeats a little slower. I’d rather not end up missing Boston because I flew off a treadmill trying to hit 3 minute 800s.

Friday I ran on the treadmill again. This time I ran a ten tempo. I was really happy with this run. It felt hard, but not awful. I was able to pick up the pace in the last two miles.

I think it was the beet shot I took 30 minutes before the run.

In my school life, check out our cuties learning to tell time in the after-school program.

It was also Parent Conference week. Our parents are amazing. Check out Erica’s attendance sheet. 100%!

We always have a potluck on Parent Conference day. Gabby outdid herself. We’re the Unicorn and Fairy School.

And our Star Scholars for the week. I love love love our kiddos!

In not so Unicorn and Fairy news, we’ve been dealing with protests in response to our Prop 39 placement at Magnolia Elementary for next year. We’ve had three protests outside our school. Check out the coverage hereandhere. Oh the joy of founding a school. I understand the frustration, but I’m not trying to do anything controversial. I just want to build my little school and need temporary space until our facility is ready in Fall of 2018.

And in my fueling life, lately Brent and I have been loving Hello Fresh. I promise I’m not being told to tell you this, but I’m a huge fan. I love to cook. I used to think these services were fake cooking, but it’s cooking for the person who doesn’t want to deal with the meal prep research and shopping, which takes SO much time! This week Brent made Thai Rice Noodles, and I made Steak Arugula Salad and Pineapple Chicken Tacos. Shameless plug for $40 off if you want to try. Use this code.

I meant to post pictures from my trip to Palm Springs a few days ago, but it’s been quite a week. I tend to be positive and peppy, but for a variety of reasons I just wasn’t feeling it. During our Executive Team Meeting check-in on Wednesday I was honest with the team and owned the fact that I wasn’t feeling particularly effective. I’m grateful to work with people eager to support me. I woke up every morning feeling tired, I felt overwhelmed with an upcoming budget meeting, my dumb tooth was still hurting me, I had a negative parent interaction, our school went on lockdown from 3:30pm-6:00pm on Thursday, our landlord decided to increase our rent significantly, and Brent’s family is going through another decline in health of a family member. Thursday night during my run I listed out all the positive aspects of my week. It helped me end my week on a much better note. I think it’s important to be real on social media. When you only see the smiles, beautiful scenery, yummy food, and PRs, you see a filtered view of someone’s life. The pictures below are genuine and yes, looking back I have so much to be grateful for from this past week, but I’m not going to pretend it was all fun and games. I didn’t snap a photo of me crying in my office Wednesday morning. Thanks for the hugs, Alaina 🙂 And I just want to point out, I am NOT a crier. I think this is the 2nd time this school year. I’m also not going to act like this was a week of hardship. My first world problems are nothing compared to the challenges many face in life, and I feel guilty ever complaining about my tiredness this past week. I encourage you though, when you’re having a rough week, to dig a little and identify what you’re thankful for. Wow, I’m sounding like that annoying Californian. Here’s what I found this week.

We won a grant for $2 million dollars from Great Public Schools Now to help fund our permanent site. Here is Alaina rocking our acceptance speech.

I busted this out after our lockdown. Fast is relative, but this is fast for me.

Tuesday we had our last School Site Council Meeting. By the time I got home I only had time for a 5K. Better than nothing!

We had another Curriculum Team meeting, and spent some time mapping out our Summer PD. Helping build the Network Curriculum Team is one of my proudest accomplishments of the year.

5. There is officially no achievement gap at Equitas Academy #3. All scholars are reading at or above grade level and more than 80% of our scholars met their EOY growth goal on the MAP Assessment. I love Ashley and Alaina’s reading level tracker. Look at all those balloons!

6. We celebrated Ashley’s 29th both at school and at her house in Burbank on Friday night. Next year Ashley and I will begin our fifth year working together and she’ll continue co-teaching our Special Education homeroom and join EQ3 Leadership Team as an instructional coach!

8. Gabby did it again. She planned yet another fun project for our scholars. Father’s Day cards!
9. Gabby also presented at our final Cafecito on changes she’s making to our website. She is so poised and professional. Anyone who says you can’t rock your first year teaching is wrong. Gabby and Sindy are calm, confident, and effective teachers.

10. I get to go to work and see these cuties everyday. Jesse and Bryant at the zoo with their list of animals they wanted to see.

And now, Palm Spring. It’s funny how friends of friends can become your friends, even when you don’t live in the same city. Andrea (Alaina’s best friend from growing up in Ohio) and I have only ever spent time together when Andrea is visiting California. We also met up in Vancouver when Brent, Marta, and I went for Ellen’s marathon last year. Andrea is kinda a big deal at Lululemon. We’ve got that whole running thing in common, and we’re both ESTJs. Apparently Alaina has a friend type. Anyways, this past weekend we spent her 30th Birthday in Palm Springs. When I came home I realized I didn’t take very many pictures. Andrea was on it with her #palmSpringintoThirty hashtag. Check out our photos!

Our beautiful home for the weekend…

I went to Workshop last summer with Equitas staff. I was so excited we got to go back. The Palm Springer may be the best cocktail I’ve ever had.

There was plenty of pool time. Alaina would find a pretzel floaty. And on the way home Alaina and I stopped at the lululemon, loft, and jcrew outlets for some shopping, then hit up Hadley’s for some road trip essentials. They’re known for their date shakes, but the dried kiwis and garlic chips were a hit too!

And today is an easy Saturday with a nice beach run, brunch with Brent, blogging on the couch, and maybe a beach walk before cooking dinner. It’s my first weekend in LA in a month, so I’m excited for some rest and relaxation at home before the final week of our founding school year. Until next time!